Welcome to March. And welcome, Orlando Magic fans, to a position this team has not been a part of in more than a decade.
Potential playoff matchups! Winning records! "Can we beat this team and that team in the postseason" conversations!
This is an unfamilliar ground in Orlando.
Sitting at 34-26 entering Sunday's game against the Detroit Pistons, the Orlando Magic have not had a winning record at this point in the season since the 2011 lockout season - where Orlando had a 23-14 record on March 1. The last full season? The year prior, where the Dwight Howard era was descending from its peak.
This is not 2019 when the Magic rallied to reach the Playoffs and finish 42-40 -- the only time they have had a winning record since Dwight Howard's final season in 2012.
In 2024, things are much different. This era is on its way up -- a 21-year-old All-Star leading the way, surrounded by a bunch of hungry 20-somethings (and Joe Ingles).
Six weeks remain until the end of the regular season. The Orlando Magic have the easiest remaining schedule in the league -- apart from the closing trio of games, at the Milwaukee Bucks, at the Philadelphia 76ers and finishing at home vs. the Bucks, that will be the determining factor to a high playoff seeding.
The Magic are in the thick of a playoff race. And there are going to be some games that will give them a feel for what the postseason may be like.
Before the team gets to the Playoffs, here are three Playoff Preview matchups to circle on the calendar as the season winds down.
Playoff Preview matchups to circle on the calendar
March 8th - Orlando Magic at New York Knicks
The playoff lookahead starts next weekend once the team gets out of this stretch of seven games against teams with losing records. the Orlando Magic have taken care of its business in that run. But things get serious on Friday.
A March 8 matchup in New York versus the New York Knicks will be a potential first-round matchup if games fall the right way. As of March 3, the Orlando Magic are sitting at the 6-seed but tied with the Philadelphia 76ers at 5 (Philadelphia owns the tiebreaker with a 2-0 head-to-head advantage this season).
The Knicks sit at 4, so a 4-5 matchup in the opening round could shake out that way. Out of all potential first-round matchups, New York is the most favorable of the bunch. With three wins in three opportunities this regular season, the Magic have an opportunity to complete a playoff-esque 4-0 sweep next week.
Granted, the Magic have never played the Knicks at full strength. That is part of the story too. But Orlando has had New York's number this season.
The Magic have won those three games in many different ways.
Their Dec. 29 matchup was a restricted area clash where both teams went a combined 13 for 63 from three. Knicks forward Julius Randle went for 38 points (32 coming inside the arc to go with six points off free throws). Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, though, went for a combined 61 points (only 15 of those coming from deep) to get the win.
Their next win was an all-out team win with four players in double figures -- including a 17-point performance off the bench from a fresh-off-injury Wendell Carter.
The Magic then took care of business against an injured Knicks team before the All-Star Break.
Orlando has yet to play New York with Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby all available. And it does not appear Randle or Anunoby will return in time for Friday's showdown.
Heading into next week, this matchup will show the signs of a favorable playoff matchup. Orlando's lengthy wings, headlined by Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac have been huge in stifling New York's primary options.
While both Randle and Jalen Brunson have 30-point performances against Orlando this season, they haven't had any resemblance of a key third scorer that separates them from this Magic team.
The national media has been high on New York as a threat to the Eastern Conference's top teams, but Orlando's length and well-rounded defense has given New York problems. Look for next week's matchup as the final litmus test for a potential first-round matchup.
'Playoff Preview' matchups to circle on the calendar
March 10 - Orlando Magic vs Indiana Pacers
Back-to-back!
A Western Conference/bottom-feeder flurry to end the season does not leave a ton of potential postseason previews. But two days after that matchup with the New York Knicks comes another potential matchup. This time a possible Play-In matchup of two up-and-coming teams.
Although the Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers sit sixth and seventh in the Eastern Conference (not a Play-In matchup), a late slip-up by one or both teams could result in a 7-8 matchup just more than a month from this regular-season meeting.
For as good of an offensive team as the Pacers are (No. 1 in scoring and No. 2 in offensive rating), the Magic have seemed to figure it out in two regular season games.
Orlando had their fifth-highest scoring game back in November and held All-Star Tyrese Haliburton to just 12 points (Jordan Nwora led the Pacers in scoring). Orlando's starting lineup combined for a wild +89 (and +95 after taking out rookie Anthony Black's -6 since he played late in the game when Indiana made a push to close the margin).
In game two the next month, Paolo Banchero went for 34 points to surge past Indiana in arguably Tyrese Haliburton's hottest stretch of the year (he went for 29 and 11 assists).
A first-half barrage resulting in 73 first-half points from Orlando was mostly due to using the team's most consistent offensive approach: getting to the rim and drawing fouls. Indiana committed 30 fouls leading to 33 points off free throws (12 of those from Banchero).
March 10 will prove to be a solid test for Orlando to determine its standing within the tiers of playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference.
They have teetered between the Indiana Pacers/New York Knicks/Miami Heat/Philadelphia 76ers group more this season than below that (although the Sixers with Joel Embiid in the lineup moves them up a tier).
This matchup for Orlando will prove they belong in the top six conversations and a true competitor get out of the first round.
'Playoff Preview' matchups to circle on the calendar
April 7 - Orlando Magic vs. Chicago Bulls
Write off these Chicago Bulls all you want, but they are in the Play-In at this point in the season.
At the ninth seed and four games above the 11th-seeded Brooklyn Nets, the Chicago Bulls should end up as at least the 10th seed come playoff time. That opens the door for a playoff matchup with the Orlando Magic.
No, this is not as exciting as the previous two matchups. But the idea needs to be thrown around that the Magic stumble to end the season. With three straight matchups against the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks (two teams that the Orlando Magic have a combined 1-3 record against this year) and a jumbled mess from the 4-8 seeds, Orlando could certainly find itself all the way at the back of that pack and playing in the Play-In Tournament.
There is a lot to sort out in the last 20-plus games.
That, coupled with a tough 7-8 Play-In matchup, could result in a winner-takes-the-8-seed game in Orlando with Chicago.
There is a solid gap between these two teams. The Magic have gone an undefeated 3-0 against the Bulls this year. But every one of those games came down to the final possession of regulation.
An early season back-to-back saw Orlando escape 96-94 on a Paolo Banchero game-winner and 103-97 on a Franz Wagner game-winner to start their nine-game win streak.
Orlando had by far its best defensive performance of season in both, holding Chicago to 33 first-half points in both games -- the only team to hold an opponent to 35 points or less multiple teams this season.
Late runs in both games pulled Chicago back to single digits -- an element of Orlando's second-half offense that has been an issue throughout the season. The Magic needed a game-winner by Banchero with 1.1 seconds to go to escape.
They needed overtime to defeat the Bulls in February. This is not an easy opponent for a single-elimination game.
Overall, Orlando has the matchups to notch a playoff win against the Bulls if it comes down to it.
Jalen Suggs plays big enough on defense to limit Coby White's Most Improved Player campaign this season (19.3/5.3/4.8 splits for the 24-year-old). Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Jonathan Isaac should have no issues with the DeMar DeRozan/Andre Drummond/Nikola Vucevic frontcourt trio, either, despite the size advantage for Chicago.
This is a regular season matchup in April that Orlando needs to pull away for a statement win. Similar to the Orlando Magic's 108-81 win against the Brooklyn Nets last week, the Chicago Bulls should be a team Orlando can handle.
Alongside the Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies matchups left on the schedule, the Chicago Bulls are a team the Orlando Magic have no business losing to at this point in the season and should use it as a stepping stone to prove themselves as a top-six team in the league.